Escape the Field

Come, raise your glass to the ever-enduring appeal of the cinematic labyrinth. From modern cult classics like Cube to studio programmers like Escape Room, the labyrinth thriller – where a group of characters wake up to find themselves trapped in a deadly puzzle – remains one of the best ways to turn a modest budget into a killer hook. And while Escape the Field lacks the visual panache of its predecessors, there’s enough here to make it a solid night at the movies for the right kind of genre fan.

The last thing Sam (Robbins) remembers was falling asleep in her hospital on-call room. When she wakes up in the middle of a cornfield with a gun in her hand, the best she can say is that she is not alone. As soon as she meets up with Tyler (Rossi) and Ryan (West), she realizes they each possess tools that can help them find a way out of the maze. But as trust begins to erode between the small group – and an invisible monster picks off the survivors one at a time – Sam soon realizes that her only shot at salvation is figuring out the grand design of their vegetable trap.

Like many B-movies before it, Escape the Field draws from a pool of recognizable television actors. This is not a knock; while the characters have an unwelcome tendency to speechify their inner thoughts to the people around them, the main trio of actors – Robbins, Rossi, and West – provide the film with healthy archetypes to work from. Each actor does just enough with their performance to hold things together, avoiding the more obvious character beats and letting a group of decent-ish people come together for a chance of survival. Spend enough time watching horror scripts force characters into bad decisions and you learn to appreciate a baseline of competence.

Not much else is needed. Writer/director Emerson Moore is smart enough not to do too much, instead letting the half-baked puzzles and vague gestures at worldbuilding give the film its foundation. This is a film about turning limitations into strengths: start with a cornfield that obscures the need for complicated production design, throw in a few moments of gore, and let the Redbox dollars pretty much mint themselves. When the film’s reach exceeds its grasp – for example, a super-serum that turns characters into a budget Edward Hyde – the seams do start to show. But as anyone who’s struggled their way through a corn maze already knows, a little set dressing can go a very long way.

And sure, it’s no secret that I have a soft spot in my heart for mediocre film. But with good movies and bad movies often obvious from the outside, there’s something uniquely enjoyable about watching a second-tier title execute to the best of its abilities. Escape the Field won’t change the world, but it is a solid showing for everyone involved, and it works overtime to keep the audience entertained throughout – at least until the sequel-bait ending for a movie that will probably never happen.

Available on VOD now.